Taika Waititi and girlfriend Rita Ora fell in love after deciding to “complicate” their friendship.
“[This is the] first photo [from] the night we met four years ago,” Waititi wrote via Instagram in February 2022 alongside a snapshot of him and Ora grinning. “We’ve been mates ever since. Then a year ago we decided to ‘complicate’ things but it just got easier. Happy Valentines Day to my bestie.”
Waititi and Ora were first linked in early 2021, shortly after they were spotted hanging out with Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina in Sydney, Australia. British tabloid The Sun reported at the time that the duo had been together since March.
After keeping things low-key for several months, the twosome’s romance made headlines in May 2021 when they were spotted cuddling and kissing Tessa Thompson during an outing in Australia.
Two months later, Ora and Waititi made their red carpet debut as a couple at The Suicide Squad premiere in Los Angeles. “I’m in a great place in my life, that’s all I’m going to say about that,” the Westworld actress told Vogue Australia in September 2021 when asked about their romance. “I just think, respectfully, privacy is important. … I learned a lot in my 20s.”
Keep scrolling to see Ora and Waititi’s complete relationship timeline:
The duo originally hit it off in 2018 and, as the What We Do in the Shadows creator wrote in February 2022, “We’ve been mates ever since.”
Courtesy of Rita Ora/Instagram
The Sun first reported that the “Your Song” performer and Waititi were an item in the spring of 2021. That same month, Ors shared a photo cuddled up with the screenwriter via Instagram.
Courtesy of Rita Ora/Instagram
Ora and Waititi were seen packing on the PDA with Thor star Thompson during an excursion in Australia. In photos obtained by the Daily Mail, the director was seen with his arms around both women before sharing a kiss with each of them. In another snap, the trio appeared to be leaning in for a group kiss.
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The pair made their red carpet debut as a couple at the Suicide Squad premiere in Los Angeles. Ora later shared several photos from her boyfriend’s 46th birthday celebrations via Instagram, which showed her presenting Waititi with a birthday cake and partying with famous friends including Rami Malek and Kristen Stewart.
Courtesy of Rita Ora/Instagram
The “R.I.P.” musician held Waititi close and shared several kisses with him as they made their way down the red carpet at the 2021 Met Gala. Later that month, Ora told Vogue Australia that she was “in a great place” in her life.
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Waititi played the role of Instagram boyfriend at the 2021 MTV EMAs in Budapest, taking photos of Ora on his phone as she posed on the red carpet.
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“❤️ F–k yeah!!! ❤️ I’m super proud of this girl!” Waititi wrote via Instagram, sharing screenshots announcing Ora’s new role in Disney+’s Beauty and the Beast prequel series. (The series was canceled later that month.)
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Later that month, he confirmed that the pair had been dating for one year with a touching Instagram post gushing about Ora for Valentine’s Day. In a post of her own, Ora shared photos from their romance, writing, “Thanks for being cool. And entertaining me forevs..Happy Valentine’s Day bestie ❤️”
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The Our Flag Means Death star was photographed carrying and arranging the train of his girlfriend’s dress as they arrived at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in late March.
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“Huge congratulations to @taikawaititi and the whole Thor crew and team!!” Ora wrote via Instagram ahead of the Thor: Love and Thunder premiere, along with some loved-up photos from the premiere. “I’ve seen all the incredible hard work that has gone into this 💗⚡everyone go watch this on Friday!!!”
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Two days after the fourth Thor film was released, Ora and Waititi celebrated by enjoying the final matches at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in England.
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The twosome secretly tied the knot in an intimate wedding ceremony after one year of dating, multiple outlets reported. One year later, the couple confirmed in a Vogue interview that they wed on August 4, 2022, in a ceremony held at their home in Los Angeles. Waititi also noted that Ora was the one who popped the question. “She proposed to me, and I said yes instantly,” he recalled, adding that Ora asked him while the duo were on vacation in Palm Springs in the summer of 2022.
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Ora gushed about her husband during an episode of the “Greatest Night Ever” podcast. “I’m in love, I’m in love, I’m in love,” she told host Jaime Winstone, adding that the Thor: Love and Thunder director was a “lovely” person.
“I’ve always wanted the fairytale, that’s what I grew up loving,” the “Let You Love Me” singer said. “For me, it was always about that love, finding a partner, so I’m really happy I did. I love Taika. Shoutout to Taika!”
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The happy couple cohosted the 29th MTV Europe Music Awards in Dusseldorf, Germany, after walking the red carpet together.
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“Happy Birthday Bird,” Waititi captioned an Instagram tribute to his partner in Albanian, a nod to the “Your Song” artist’s upbringing in Kosovo.
Courtesy of Taika Waititi/Instagram
The couple opened up about their first date during an interview with Vogue. “We met in L.A. and it was through friends and it was amazing,” Ora explained, with the Our Flag Means Death star adding that they were “friends for years” before they began dating. “It was very causal. And then we stayed friends for like, four or five years. … It was just a natural thing. We were both in Australia doing two separate jobs … and we kind of hung out and that was it. We went to a friend’s birthday party, and it all clicked.”
Waititi, for his part, gushed over how “romantic” his partner can be. “Rita is incredible at gifting and thinking about someone ahead of time and planning gifts and things,” he said.
Courtesy of Vogue/YouTube
“I’M BACK! You Only Love Me 🥃 XX/01/23 #RO3,” the singer captioned an Instagram video of her kissing Waititi as they watched the fireworks while her new song played in the background.
Courtesy Rita Ora/Instagram
During an interview with GQ Hype, Ora explained why she stayed tight-lipped about the photos of her getting cozy with Waititi and Thompson.
“I just chose to not acknowledge that because it’s ridiculous,” she said about the May 2021 outing. “I think when some things are so absurd, and it’s hard to fathom any sense of it, you just have to ignore it. I’ve taken that approach for a lot of things, because you don’t want to put energy towards something that’s nonexistent. It’s like trying to explain something that didn’t happen means you’re feeding into nothing.”
Ora continued: “Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve had a lot of drinks and everyone’s your best friend? And then the next day you’re like, ‘I was talking to this person in the smoking area for four hours and I’ve got no idea who they are?’ Literally – that [photo] was just a bunch of friends having a good time. They [Taika and Tessa] had a crazy schedule and everyone was letting loose. I love that. Each to their own.”
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The British singer, who plays a bride in her “You Only Love Me” music video, confirmed that she and Waititi had tied the knot after speculation.
“Yes [I am married]. I am officially off the market, people!” she said during a Heart Breakfast radio appearance. “I chose to keep it more private and keep it to myself more but with my new video I am playing on what could have been.”
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“I haven’t actually shown anyone my ring, it’s my first time showing my ring and because I love you and I feel like you’re a part of our relationship … Look here it is,” Ora said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon while showing off her emerald and gold wedding band. At the time, the singer joked that she “may have” helped her husband choose the ring, adding, “You know what you want and I felt like I really knew I wanted to be with this person and I just wanted it to feel really right. So I may have taken him to the shop and pointed out exactly what ring I wanted.”
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The “Praising You” songstress recalled how meeting Waititi helped her regain self-confidence after years of struggles.
“I spent such a long time fighting to be heard over the course of my experience being in the industry, that I guess I lost a lot of confidence and a lot of hope [and felt] really low,” Ora told Billboard. “And I guess when you’re at your lowest point, you can make a choice. You either kind of get back up and keep going, or you just let it consume you. And I did that. I got up. I flew to Australia to do The Voice over there, and I met somebody who changed me forever.”
She added: “Meeting Taika, who is my husband, I definitely never felt that before, and so I just wrote it all down and I thought, ‘OK, I think it’s time to make some music again.’ And here we are.”
Ora’s third album, You & I, is scheduled for a July 2023 release.
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Ora penned a touching tribute to Waititi in honor of his 48th birthday as the duo celebrated the milestone while in Ibiza with friends.
“Only in Ibiza do you gather a group of such incredible people full of joy and laughter these are the only appropriate photos I could find!” she wrote via Instagram. “Thank you to everyone who came you know who you all are!
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